Jeremy Harris takes photographs and collects objects from abandoned mental hospitals as part of a project that started as a study in moral architecture of the 19th century, and evolved into a way to document theses places before they’re demolished. Not surprisingly, it’s incredibly haunting and insanely creepy.
In the short clip, (which is also featured in the most recent Mother Jones cover story on mental health in America), you get a quick look at places that will make your skin crawl, given their history. However, as Harris describes, they were designed to look bright and cheery, with lively colours, lots of natural light, and plenty of open corridors. And when you think about the tormented people that actually lived and died behind these happily painted walls, it perhaps makes the buidings even spookier. [YouTube via Mother Jones]